1992 Spanish Grand Prix

The 1992 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on May 3, 1992 at the Circuit de Catalunya. It was the fourth round of the 1992 Formula One season.

Race

The race was also advertised as the Grand Prix of the Olympic Games. The race was moved up from its former September date, and held just months before the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

British driver Perry McCarthy was allowed to compete for the first time and his Andrea Moda car was entered for the pre-qualifying session before the race, but the engine blew up and the car rolled to a halt 18 metres later having barely left the garage. Damon Hill, son of former world champion Graham Hill, made his debut with the Brabham team, but did not qualify for the race. As in the three previous races, Mansell qualified in pole position, ahead of Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna, Riccardo Patrese, Ivan Capelli and Martin Brundle.

At the start of the race, in torrential wet conditions, Patrese got by Schumacher and Senna. Ferrari driver Jean Alesi made a good start from 8th on the grid to 3rd into the first corner on the first lap, forcing other drivers to take defensive actions and drop back. Senna dropped from 3rd all the way to 7th. But, he recovered 2 positions to 5th during the first lap. The order was: Mansell, Patrese, Alesi, Schumacher, Senna and Capelli.

Schumacher attacked and passed Alesi on lap 7. Senna tried to do the same but tipped Alesi into a spin, putting the Frenchman behind Berger and Capelli as well. By, now the rain intensified, and Patrese spun off on lap 20 while trying to lap a backmarker. This put Mansell ahead of Schumacher, Senna, Berger, Capelli and Alesi.

During the pit-stops, Alesi got past Capelli and began to charge up through the field. He cruised past Berger for fourth and began to attack Senna for third. He wanted to attack Schumacher as well and was in a hurry. The pressure was so much that Senna spun off with two laps to go, although he was still classified 9th. At the same time, Capelli spun off as well.

Mansell continued his perfect record in 1992 with his fourth win of the season from Schumacher, Alesi, Berger, Alboreto and Pierluigi Martini, but for the first time in the season his Williams team did not score a 1-2 finish. Martin Brundle scored his 4th consecutive retirement of the season in his Benetton.

Classification

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	5	Template:Country flagicon Nigel Mansell	Williams-Renault	65	1:56:10.674	1	10
2	19	Template:Country flagicon Michael Schumacher	Benetton-Ford	65	+ 23.914	2	6
3	27	Template:Country flagicon Jean Alesi	Ferrari	65	+ 26.462	8	4
4	2	Template:Country flagicon Gerhard Berger	McLaren-Honda	65	+ 1:20.647	7	3
5	9	Template:Country flagicon Michele Alboreto	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	64	+ 1 Lap	16	2
6	22	Template:Country flagicon Pierluigi Martini	Dallara-Ferrari	63	+ 2 Laps	13	1
7	10	Template:Country flagicon Aguri Suzuki	Footwork-Mugen-Honda	63	+ 2 Laps	19
8	16	Template:Country flagicon Karl Wendlinger	March-Ilmor	63	+ 2 Laps	9
9	1	Template:Country flagicon Ayrton Senna	McLaren-Honda	62	Spun Off	3
10	28	Template:Country flagicon Ivan Capelli	Ferrari	62	Spun Off	5
11	23	Template:Country flagicon Christian Fittipaldi	Minardi-Lamborghini	61	+ 4 Laps	22
12	17	Template:Country flagicon Paul Belmondo	March-Ilmor	61	+ 4 Laps	23
Ret	21	Template:Country flagicon Jyrki Järvilehto	Dallara-Ferrari	56	Spun Off	12
Ret	15	Template:Country flagicon Gabriele Tarquini	Fondmetal-Ford	56	Spun Off	18
Ret	11	Template:Country flagicon Mika Häkkinen	Lotus-Ford	56	Spun Off	21
Ret	26	Template:Country flagicon Érik Comas	Ligier-Renault	55	Spun Off	10
Ret	29	Template:Country flagicon Bertrand Gachot	Larrousse-Lamborghini	35	Engine	24
Ret	3	Template:Country flagicon Olivier Grouillard	Tyrrell-Ilmor	30	Spun Off	15
Ret	24	Template:Country flagicon Gianni Morbidelli	Minardi-Lamborghini	26	Handling	25
Ret	33	Template:Country flagicon Maurício Gugelmin	Jordan-Yamaha	24	Spun Off	17
Ret	14	Template:Country flagicon Andrea Chiesa	Fondmetal-Ford	22	Spun Off	20
Ret	6	Template:Country flagicon Riccardo Patrese	Williams-Renault	19	Spun Off	4
Ret	12	Template:Country flagicon Johnny Herbert	Lotus-Ford	13	Spun Off	26
Ret	25	Template:Country flagicon Thierry Boutsen	Ligier-Renault	11	Engine	14
Ret	20	Template:Country flagicon Martin Brundle	Benetton-Ford	4	Spun Off	6
Ret	4	Template:Country flagicon Andrea de Cesaris	Tyrrell-Ilmor	2	Engine	11
DNQ	30	Template:Country flagicon Ukyo Katayama	Larrousse-Lamborghini
DNQ	7	Template:Country flagicon Eric van de Poele	Brabham-Judd
DNQ	32	Template:Country flagicon Stefano Modena	Jordan-Yamaha
DNQ	8	Template:Country flagicon Damon Hill	Brabham-Judd
DNPQ	34	Template:Country flagicon Roberto Moreno	Moda-Judd
DNPQ	35	Template:Country flagicon Perry McCarthy	Moda-Judd

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Template:Country flagicon Nigel Mansell 40 2 Template:Country flagicon Riccardo Patrese 18 3 Template:Country flagicon Michael Schumacher 17 4 Template:Country flagicon Gerhard Berger 8 5 Template:Country flagicon Jean Alesi 7

Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Template:Country flagicon Williams-Renault 58 2 Template:Country flagicon Benetton-Ford 17 3 Template:Country flagicon McLaren-Honda 12 4 Template:Country flagicon Ferrari 9 6 Template:Country flagicon Footwork-Mugen-Honda 3 Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.